version 1.0: Initial release of the guide

Version 1.1: updated with more information

Version 1.2: Update the RSS link, because the old one was broken

Before starting, this is all the software that we are gonna need:

A copy of F.E.A.R, that include both expansions: https://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/21090/FEAR/

Notepad ++ (This will help us edit INI files): https://notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/

Rivatuner statistics server (This will help us to set the framerate): https://www.guru3d.com/download/rtss-rivatuner-statistics-server-download/

With that out of the way, let's begin with the quality of life improvements!

FOV Change

For changing the FOV, first, we will use this website called FOV calculator, this will let us calculate what FOV value we should put in the INI file.

The site: https://themetalmuncher.github.io/fov-calc/


In my case, I will use 16:9 on “Aspect ratio presets”, and in the “Horizontal FOV” option, I will put 110, since that is the FOV I like to use to play games.

And, as we can see, the vertical FOV is 78, so that is what we are gonna put in the INI file.


NOTE: You should put in the “Horizontal FOV” the value that you are most comfortable with, this is just an example.

When you need to go to the games directory, the easiest way to do this is to right click your game, select “manage”, and click “browse local files”.


Then, we will need to create a TXT file called “autoexec.cfg”


NOTE: If you want to change the FOV in the expansions, you have to go to FEARXP and FEARXP2 folders, and do the same steps as we are doing here.

After doing this, open the “autoexec.cfg” with Notepad++ and type the following line:

If you are using widescreen: FovYWidescreen (Your vertical FOV here).00

If you are NOT using widescreen: FovY (Your vertical FOV here).00

Since I'm using a widescreen, I will use the first option.


And there you go! That's how you change your FOV.

Play at 60 fps + FPS drops/ Slowdowns fix

The game (As far as i remember) runs at 30 FPS natively, obviously, this is unacceptable in today's standards, so we are gonna fix that.

First, install Rivatuner Statistics server, click on the “add” Button and find “FEAR.exe” and do the same for the expansions, in the case of the expansions, find “FEARXP.exe” And “FEARXP2.exe” on their respective folders.


After this, on the “framerate limiter”, put 60 (Or 120), this will make the game run at a much more digestible framerate, instead of a choppy 30 FPS.

NOTE: Do not put the frame rate above 120 fps, since the game can break the game if it is too high.

There's also a problem when putting the fps above 60, where after a few minutes of play, the game slows down and it starts to run horribly, since the game was not designed by default to run at 60 or more.

To fix this, download this FPS Fix: https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/789-directinput-fps-fix/

Click on the “Download this file button”, agree to the terms of service and wait for it until it lets you download it.

When you have the file called “Dinput8.dll”, extract it, and put it in your main F.E.A.R folder.


NOTE: If you want to play the expansion with this fix, you need to put that file you downloaded in your “FEAR XP” and “FEARXP2” folders.

And that should fix the issue!.

Patch For text scaling

There's a problem regarding the hud, where it looks really tiny on modern resolutions.

Here's the fix for that:

Go to this website: https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/1813-fear-collection-small-font-fix-by-deus-and-montonero/

When you click the download button, you will see 3 versions of the file.


You will have to select the resolution that you are going to use to play, in my case, i will download the first one.

Once you downloaded it, it will ask you for a password, the password is “pcgw” without the quotation marks.

You then open the file and then, you need to move the “FEARL_1440.Arch00” to your main F.E.A.R folder, and then, you will need to open the file called “Default.archcfg” with notepad++, and at the bottom of the file, add the line “FEARL_1440.Arch00”.

NOTE: If you want to use this file in perseus mandate, you will need to use a special file that comes in this package (and in the other ones), inside the “FEARXP2” folder, and do the same that we did before.

Here a little chart to help you out:


(You have to download the version of the file that uses your resolution, for example, the one of the image is for 1920p resolution)

I recommend you also take a look at this guide, since it goes in more detail on this issue, and it even teaches you on how to make this same file for a custom resolution!

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=180211741

Persistent decals

The base game does not maintain the decals all the time, which can take you a little out of the game.

Here is the fix for that.

Download this mod: https://www.moddb.com/mods/fear-xp-rivarez-mod/downloads/fear-xp-rivarez-mod

Open the File and open the folder called “Without weapon changes” and copy the contents of that folder in your main folder, and overwrite if prompted.

NOTE: This mod only works in the base game and in Extraction Point, Perseus Mandate is not supported.

Change the resolution in FEAR expansions

Here a little video explaining on how to play fear expansion with a custom resolution:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_LFUy_qpQQ&t=59s

Skip intro videos

There's a way to disable the intro movies that you see upon launching the game.

Right click the game, go to manage and click “browse local files”


Find the file called “config.exe” and open it.


A window will appear, go to the options tab


A series of options will appear, just select the one called “disable movies”, your window should look like this.


Then, go to the lower corner of the window, and click on “save”.

And that 's it! keep in mind that this also works for the expansions, you just have to go to their respective folders and find their respective config file and do the same thing.

There are a few extra sound options that we can activate, these options were used to get a better sounding experience (i'm sorry if i'm not explaining myself here, i don't really know about this technology in particular, i will update it with a better description in the future)

to activate this option, you will need to go to the PC gaming wiki page of this game and find this part here.


You will need to download these 3 links, the first 2 will take you to an internet archive page, the last one will take you to a mediafire download link.

I will tell you now how to set up everything.

Once you have downloaded it all, extract the first winrar archive and open the “creative-alchemy-all-version” folder, you will need to find the version 1.45.03 Universal, open the folder and open the folder called “Creative_alchemy_1.45.03”, scroll down and install the “setup.exe”, follow the instructions of the installer.
Then, extract the second file and open the folder called “eax-4-unified-redist-4001”, and install the exe that has the same name as the folder you are in.

Then, extract the “GenericALchemyDerestrictor-1.0”.zip, and place all the files in the installation folder of Creative Alchemy (the default location is C:\Program Files\Creative\ALchemy) and run the "GenericALchemyDerestrictor.exe" as administrator and install, you will then need to reboot your PC.

Go again to that folder, add all the F.E.A.R exes that you see on the “enabled” section, you can do it by selecting one, and clicking the button called “add”, and finally, activate the EAX settings in the game, you can find them in the options menu ⇢ sound and you will find the options.

I am not sure if the setting still works, I haven't noticed any difference in game, but I thought it was necessary that I cover this topic on how to set-up all this.

This is how your in game settings should look like if you have a capable PC to run this game

NOTE: the mods listed here will probably cause conflict with the rivarez mod, i haven't tested the compatibility, you will have to see for yourself.

Mutilation: this mod describes itself as “adding some more realism to the carnage”, it basically makes the gore more realistic, in the sense that, instead of being an action movie, it's more like real life, it only does small changes to the game, but it's good to try out.

It also comes with Rivarez mod, you can have more realistic gore + permanent bullet holes!

Link: https://www.moddb.com/mods/mutilation

WolfMod: This does the total opposite of mutilation, it balances the game to be more like an action movie than a realistic carnage, it makes a few small changes to make you feel you are in an action movie.

Link: https://www.moddb.com/mods/wolfmod

Infinite flashlight: It does what it says, it removes the battery recharge function of the flashlight, making it infinite to use, it's compatible with both Expansions and it also comes with an optional version that adds some gameplay improvements.

Link: https://www.moddb.com/mods/infinite-flashlight

I just wanted this part of the guide to be a thank you to all of you! I never thought that this Silly guide I made almost a year ago would help so many people, and introduce them to the F.E.A.R franchise! I never thought in my life that it would also become one of the most popular guides for this game on steam!Thank you to all of you who left nice comments and awards! I really appreciated that!
Also, i wanted to explain a few things i will probably add in the future for this guide:

- I wanted to add the 4 GB patcher, but it requires that I use an app called “stemless” that I don't know how to use at the moment, I will have to look more into it in the future.

- One comment mentioned a bug related to Soft shadows. They don't seem to work when FSAA is enabled, i couldn't find a fix for that yet, i will keep looking for it and update the guide if i find it.

- I also wanted to add how to set up F.E.A.R Combat, which is the fan-maintained multiplayer component of the game, i made an account and everything, but the installer doesn't seem to detect the CD key that the website gives you when you make your account, again, i will look for it in the future

- I will probably translate this guide to Spanish, I think it will help a lot of non-english speaking people to set up this game correctly.

If you know how to fix any of these 3 problems I mentioned above, leave a comment and I will update the guide as soon as I get the time.

Finally, I just wanted to say thanks again to all of you! I will keep making more guides in the future for these kinds of games.

Well, that was all the major problems that this game has, I hope this helped you to play the game and I hope that you enjoy it!

If you need any more help, You can check the PC gaming wiki Page to know more fixes and other things about it.

Or you can leave a comment on this guide!


See you next time!